Warriors of the South
by Chisana Hikari
Summary: She was called the Woman Warrior of the South Pole, though women weren't suppose to be warriors in her culture. But someone had to step up and provide for the Tribe once the men left for the war and it certainly wasn't going to be the goofball Sokka. When Sokka, Katara, and her join Aang on a journey of a lifetime, will she find that she had judged Sokka wrongly? Sokka X OC
1. The News

_I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender_

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She walked back to the village. The sound of crunching snow under her feet had long faded from her attention as it does for those who grew up in the snow covered wasteland of the south pole. The meager amount of fish she caught on her trip swung beside her on a length of rope. She hoped Sokka and Katara were having more luck fishing in the canoe. The winter season was slowing receding, bringing in more food to their shore.

_But still not much_, she thought, staring at the small fish.

She sighed.

The winter's bitter weather was cruel and grueling, sending flurries their way and making finding food near impossible, yet their village managed to survive with only two tragedies this year, which much less than last winter.

The deaths of a child and his mother due to pneumonia weighed heavily on her heart. She wasn't the oldest young adult in their small tribe, but over the last two years since the men of their tribe left to fight in the war, she had become something like the unofficial provider for the small village of women, children…and Sokka.

Sokka wanted her position in the tribe and she would have gladly given him the weight of it, but being a year younger and having a personality that is, well, more comedic than mature, she had become the Woman Warrior, main protector and provider of their tribe.

_Woman Warrior..._ she thought of the title sadly as she carefully picked her way up over an icy ridge to see the village lying in the distance. Women weren't warriors in her culture, but she managed to convince her father to teach her the ways of the warrior when she was young, even though he knew it would mean that she would be ostracized by the culturally ridged tribe and that there would be less of a chance to find her a willing husband.

Yet he still taught her how to handle a spear, throw a boomerang, hunt, and anything else that young warriors learned, despite many people in the tribe disagreeing about whether it was right to teach it to a young girl. However, with a few words of the chief, her father's friend, the tribe begrudgingly stepped aside. Narra believed her father broke tradition and put up with all the arguments because warrior training pulled her out of a sad place after her mother died giving birth to her sister.

Walking through the break in the compacted snow wall, she handed off the fish to an older women, whose job was to prepare and preserve the tribe's pitifully small stockpile. She nodded her a greeting before moving on through the animal skin covered tents that stood to a few feet above her head.

All of a sudden, a small figure raced around the corner of a tent and would have rushed past her if she had not reacted quickly. Moving to scoop up the little form, she tossed her sister high in the air hearing her squeal with joy.

"You're back!"

"I am, and it's time for dinner."

"Aw, I was going to eat with Nilna and Dalan!" Her sister exclaimed, puffing out her cheeks in in protest.

"I have been gone for two days and my own sister doesn't want to eat with me!" She said tickling her sister as she ducked through their tent flap. She was only half kidding as the truth stung her.

"Your sister is right," said a woman popping her head into their tent. "Nilna and Dalan will understand that you will come to dinner another day."

Even though her back was turned away from the tent flap, she could tell the gentle motherly voice came from one of her only close friends in the tribe.

_Close enough for her to come into my tent without calling a greeting from outside_, Narra mused smiling.

"That's right." Narra said setting her sister down and bending to stare her into her big blue eyes. "You can go over another time. You practically live in their tent as it is. Let's eat together tonight." She smiled, ruffling her sister's hair, ignoring the seal pup eyes that she was trying to give her. "Now go wash up for dinner."

She watched her sister walk past Marina out the flap door before she straightened.

"I brought you some stew," Marina said brightly gesturing to a large steaming bowl in her hands. "You have impeccable timing because it just got done right before you walked into the village."

"Thanks," she said, tossing her bag of gear to the side.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Marina moved to place the bowl on a low stool before wrapping a warm hand on her shoulder. "You are upset with yourself because you think that your sister spends too much time at my tent and not enough in your own."

"No, its not that," Narra said placing a hand over her friend's. "Okay…so maybe it is, but she loves you and you are always taking care of her when I am gone-"

"Yes, and you are gone taking care of the village. You do too much for this village even while having to listen to rambling grandmothers talk about women's 'good and right' work. If you would have listened to them, we would have ran out of food a little time ago!" She interrupted, shaking her arm a little and rolling her eyes. "So don't be upset. Leave the boring child herding to the old ones like me."

"Marina," Narra exclaimed smiling and shaking her head at the antics her friend was using to try and cheer her up, which was working pretty well. "You are only 21 years of age."

"Which is five years older than you, so hush young child! Don't talk back to your elders!"

Narra laugh heartily as jumped away from Marina's hand, which came back as if to swat her behind.

Narra's laughter died as an older woman called out her name frantically before pushing her way into the tent before Narra could open the flap.

"Narra!" A middle aged woman gasped out of breath as if she just ran a mile in the snow…or if she just saw something deathly frightening. "I saw…I saw a seal on the edge of the village…about a half a mile in the distance."

Quickly, Narra walked over to the women, her face becoming serious. "What did it look like?"

"It was big and…and gold like a winter's setting sun."

Narra didn't let her face react to the news so as not to alarm the woman even more that her worry was well placed, but on the inside she let out a shuddering breath. Some seals are friendly, but there were a few that matched the woman's description, and well, they weren't the friendly kind.

She sighed, turning to stare in the corner of her home before replying. "Do not worry much. Tomorrow I will see to it."

"See to what?" a small voice asked from the tent flap.

"Nothing much, Daira. I just have to go on another trip tomorrow, and I am not sure how long I will be gone." Narra said to her sister trying her best to keep her voice light, not wanting her to be worried about whether or not she was going to come back... though it was a valid worry.

"Aw, wolves' breath," Daria muttered, shuffling towards the stew.

"Daria!" Her sister gasped angrily. "Watch your language. Where in the waters did you learn that?"

"Ah…," her sister stuttered looking at the old woman who was still in the tent looking horrified at the rowdy little girl. Quickly, the little girl backed out of the tent and Narra could hear snow crunching as her sister raced away, probably to the wolf dog team's pin.

_She better run!_ Narra thought.

Growing up surrounded by warriors in training, she learned much more about the name of seals and how to read the direction in the stars, but she had always been careful to watch her language in front of her sister.

She wished even more that she could present more often to watch over her sister, but someone also needed to watch over the tribe. The dilemma warred within her for a moment, but when she turned back to the two women, she had made her decision to choose her duty to village over her desire to be with family, reasoning that if something hurt the village it would hurt her family. She could not let that happen.

"Thank you for letting me know. Please, I beg you to watch your words carefully as you tell others lest they become riled up." Narra said carefully, remembering an old lesson from her father about how the warrior's job didn't just involve protection but also dispelling the worry of people in the face of danger. She had to do much to control the worry during the last two years since the threat of starvation and dangerous animals was never far off.

"I understand." The woman nodded, bowing her head to the fur covered floor in respect to her wishes, just like she would do if her words carried the weight of chief's.

Narra sucked in a breath, realizing that the woman had given her the honor of a chief.

_I knew that despite the fact they don't accept me, everyone still looks to me to fulfill the roles of a chief but to see someone acknowledge me as their leader... _She sighed as she felt a mantel of weight settle around her already burdened shoulders, as if the chief's necklace had been place there. She felt her resolve steeling as she knew what she must do, no matter what her outcome was. It was said by her tribe that a man,...or now a woman, was not a true warrior until they choose protect others over themselves. Tomorrow she guessed she would become a true warrior because she knew that to protect those she loved, she must be willing to give up everything, even her life


	2. The Fight

_I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender_

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Chapter 2

She woke in the early dawn light to the sound of a silent camp. Her tent felt empty since her and Marina decided it was best for her sister to sleep in Marina's tent since she needed to leave to track down the seal so early in the morning. She cracked her neck as she rose from her fur sleep roll, thinking about the long, tedious day ahead.

Well, at least she hoped she found it today.

Narra threw on extra layers of clothing and her fur lined boots before she reached over to grab her gear bag which laid in the corner where she left it unopened the night before. In it she stuffed more food, supplies, and weapons before heading out of the tent into the early morning cold.

_Now, to get the bait from the stockpile_. She thought sadly about taking the same fish she caught the day before_. But at least as the snow melts with the arrival of spring fishing will become easier-_

Her thoughts stilled as she rounded the corner of a tent and caught sight of a giant hairy creature sleeping near the snow wall. She immediately put her guard up as well as her spear, and started across the open ground of the meeting yard.

As she approached the creature she heard it snoring softly, large puffs of white air blew from its nose into the cold morning. She had never seen anything like this, didn't know where it came from, or if it was dangerous, but she knew she could not let it remain in the village while she was gone.

After a moment of studying the best way to get the giant creature out of the village, she was about to lean in closer to poke it with her spear when a voice called out quietly from a few feet behind her

"That's Appa, a flying bison...but I don't think it really flies-"

Narra didn't hear the last part as the creature's eyes cracked open and it let out a huge yawn, blowing her clothes around as it exhaled. Then its large tongue lazily licked her, lifting her off of her feet and dumping her in a heap when it was done.

"Ahh, where did it come from?" Narra jumped to her feet, trying to rub the flying bison's slobber off of her face, but no reply came from behind, only laughter loud in the silence of the early dawn.

She turned to find Sokka double over, one hand on his knee and the other over his quivering stomach.

"Oh, that was great! It's so funny to see that thing mess with someone else. Now I knew why they were laughing at me yesterday."

When he saw Narra's grim face which was without a hint of a smile on it, he straightened quickly and stated in a serious voice, trying to sound like a fellow warrior giving a report rather than a goofy teenager, "We found an airbender in the ice yesterday on our fishing trip. This is his flying bison."

"An airbender?" Narra questioned incredulously.

"Yep, Katara hit this iceburg and out pops Aang, who was frozen in there for who knows how long."

Narra opened her mouth to question the teen's outlandish story, to say no one has visited the village in a year much less extinct airbenders who tumble out of icebergs. Then she spotted what looked like an intricately carved wooden, leather saddle sitting on the ground a few feet away from her, and the earnest look on the boy's face.

So, Narra swallowed all her questions for later. She accepted Sokka's explanation, the idea of the new visitor, and like the water element of their tribe, let her focus flow onto the other pressing issue on hand. The sun was already making its appearance on the horizon, and she knew she need to head out soon.

"Okay, Sokka. I trust you on this." She said, turning towards the storehouse where the bait was held.

"Then why don't you trust me enough to go with you today?"

The voice behind her made her pull up short. Her reason for going to sleep straight after dinner last night wasn't only to get a lot rest for today, but also so she didn't have to confront Sokka. She figured he would sleep until late morning as he normally did, so she would be free to leave without a hassle or complaint. But from the sound of frustration in his voice, she didn't think that was going to happen.

She turned to him thinking of what she could say. She couldn't just tell him that she was afraid of him messing up during the hunt and getting killed, now could she?

"The village needs someone to watch over it. What with an unknown visitor and all, we need to have one of us here ready to defend our people in case something were to happen." Narra said, trying carefully to find words that would not seem like she was the one who had decided this. It was always this way with Sokka. Trying to make every decision look like it was not made by her so that she would not have to deal him complaining or pouting around, muttering that he should be the leading the village, not just some girl.

He had always been too goofy and unsure of himself to handle the responsibility of taking care of the village. So Narra had stepped up to do the job, which had made Sokka hate her... Well, she wasn't sure Sokka could harbor hatred for someone for long periods of time, but she was sure that he wanted to be the person the village looked too as their temporary leader while the men of the tribe were fighting in the war, seeing as he was next in line to be chief...

She had always wonder if he would be a good chief or not.

"Aang hurting someone? Nah, he wouldn't hurt a polar bear fly. Seriously, he wouldn't even eat our seal jerky yesterday." Sokka exclaimed, his face falling in unbelief at the thought of someone not eating meat, or in his mind, the substance of all things good and right in the world.

Narra mentally rolled her eyes at the teenager. Trying another angle to get him to stay, she said, "You said he was an airbender, right?" She waited until he nodded before going on. "The Fire Nation was supposed to have wiped out every Airbender, so that means either he is either hiding... or being hunted." She dropped her voice a little at the end to add emphasises, hoping that Sokka would understand why he should stay and volunteer himself to watch over the tribe, giving her the ability to go fight the seal without having to worry whether or not Sokka would be dead by the end of the day.

"Thats all true and what not, but don't you remember what we learned when we were younger. A warrior isn't supposed to go fight a seal alone, especially not a girl." Sokka said, smirking as he folded his arms.

Narra rolled her eyes for real that time, thinking sarcastically, _Wow, Sokka, you haven't used the gender excuse for a while. Just when I thought we were bonding as warriors. _But she did not show any of her frustration over his comment on her face...well, except for the eye roll, she couldn't help that creeping past her usual expressionless mask. She long learned that men would use any emotion she expressed to show that she, as an 'emotional female' could not handle being a real warrior. So she keep almost everything in and let her actions speak to her worthy place as a warrior of the Southern Water Tribe.

"I have taken down two blubber seal at once before. I can handle this."

"Yeah, you got lucky with the blubber seals and you know it." She didn't contradict his assessment because he was right and her scars proved it. Last year when she fell into an ice bowl with those two animals, she fought for her life and just barely succeed in keeping it. But the idea of anyone, even the rather annoying Sokka, dying on her watch made her willing to do all again.

"And from what Tia said about its appearance, this type of seal is probably not going to be some fat, slow..."

"Sokka! Look, I need- I mean, the village needs you to stay and protect it."

Sokka turned his head to look at the rising sun and slowly let his arms fall by his side. "Yeah, I get it now; I totally get it." He turned his head back and stared her in the eyes, for once surprising her with the strength she saw there. "I know when I am not wanted."

As he walked away, she wanted to call out to him, saying that it wasn't that way, but who was she kidding, it was. She didn't want him there; she didn't want anyone there to get hurt.

So she turned her back and continued into the ice storehouse to retrieve the bait before making her way through the village until she stood on its edge, looking out in the direction Tia last saw the animal.

She took a deep breath then started her search for the seal's tracks.

A few hours later she found an area with a large disturbance in the snow near the frigid water about a mile from the village. The grooves in the snow were made by the seal's body and the flipper prints were fresh.

It must have come up for air within the last hour.

Her body instantly went on guard as she surveyed the dangerous place. She saw a large flat area covered in hard packed snow, not too slippery and not loose enough to bog down her steps. She smiled. _At least she had something going for her so far._

There was a six foot high ice shelf stood parallel to the water, but it was probably too far away to be of any help.

After surveying the land, she thought of how she could best set up a trap to lure the seal up onto the ice far enough for her to fight without it retreating instantly.

After she made up her mind, she moved to set out a few fish many feet away from the water then walked toward the water dropping a couple of fish once she got half way. There she stopped to tie a fish at the end of a large length of rope and another in the middle before she approached the edge of the water weary, tapping the snow to make sure it didn't break away under her weight.

Holding one end of the rope, she dropped the line with the bait on it into the water and then moved and knelt beside the pathway of fish in the snow about ten large paces away from the pile of fish in the middle of her trap.

If things happened like she wanted them, the seal would come up and begin to eat the fish without noticing her hunkered down in the snow until it reached the pile of bait farthest away from the water. Then she would sneak up behind it and strike it down, or wound it enough for it to leave the area.

Well, that was what she hoped would happen.

She waited hours for the seal, muscles always tense for the moment the seal took the bait. As she waited she thought about what kind of seal this could be.

Sokka was right when he said this seal probably wouldn't be bulky and slow. From Tia description and the tracks on the snow, she could narrow it down to a few types of seals it could be.

None of them were very friendly.

Narra remember sitting around her family's tent fire, listening intently at her father's depictions of seal's heights and colors. It was times like those wam moments around the family fire that she missed and attempted to relive with her sister every evening she could, even though it wasn't the same without her father there.

She pushed the sad thoughts away and focused again on figuring out what kind of creature she was about to face.

It could be a cheetah seal or a lion seal, Narra wagered. She hoped for a cheetah seal because even though they were fast it only took a bad wound to run them off.

But, lion seals were big, aggressive, and worst of all, pack animals. Cheetah seals would only have a few cubs around if any animal at all, but it was known that if a lion seal showed up and found the place to be good for hunting, the others were bound to follow.

Thoughts of her village under siege by several adult sized lion seals, hurting people and breaking down their tent homes, ran through her mind. She tighten her gloved fingers around her spear.

She would not let that happen.

_If a lion seal appeared out of the water..., _she couldn't help shuddering at the thought, _I will need to take it down...or die trying. _

A few hours later the line in her hand began to move, and her heart leapt into her throat. A bigger tug on the line brought home the fact that the fight really was about to happen. It was safe to say she would be willing to do whatever to protect her tribe when it was a thought just in her head, but now that it was going to really happen, the desire to high tail it back to the village and pretend that the whole thing would go away raced through every fiber of her being.

_No!_ She yelled at herself, trying to steady the wild beating of her heart and shifting her position to crouch low in the snow. The problem would not disappear if she did. This was happening right now and she _had_ to go through with it.

She was a warrior.

She could do this.

She gulped, laying down her spear to grip the line tightly, knowing that whatever was nudging it would eventually start pulling it. A moment later it happened. The line tightened and it took her whole body weight to keep her and the rope from being pulled into the icy water.

Then everything was still and silent. For a moment the only movement in the clearing was the white fog of her breath that floated in the cold.

All of the sudden, a giant mass shot up from the water and crashed onto the ice. And her eyes widened taking in the lumbering form of a male lion seal, shaking its mane and sniffing the air.

She didn't move a muscle as it scanned over the snow looking for signs of trouble. She desperately hoped that it would not see over the little snow mound she had built for cover. When it finally turned its head and started moving toward the pile of fish ten paces in front of her, she did not dare to let out a breath of relief in case it heard.

She waited in agony as the massive lion seal snarled and devoured the fish in front of her and then moved towards the pile furthest from the shore.

This was her cue to start her approach.

Grabbing her spear, she moved carefully from behind her small little wall of safety and creeped up as silently as she could behind the lion seal. Her senses were on the highest alert they had ever been before as her eyes were trained on every movement of the animal before her. It roared loudly as it found the next pile of fish.

The bad word her sister said the night before almost popped into her mind as she realized that she had until it finished the pile of fish to strike a fatal blow or its attention would turn to her, thus making her lose the element of surprise.

She quickened her pace, angling herself along its side so as to have a clear shot at its neck.

Then all of a sudden, the lion seal's head raised up to listen, as she was setting her foot down. The sound of its crunch was loud even to her own ears in the momentary silence. The lion seal wiped its head to the side, crashing into her chest and sending her sprawling onto the ground with a grunt.

She didn't have time to let her world right itself as she scrambled up and pointed her spear at the lion seal which let out a loud snarl and tried to bite her spear. Quickly she jumped back as her vision finally cleared. It rose on its hind fins and crashed back down, letting out a loud roar at her.

It was mad, really mad.

If she didn't find another way to take it down quickly, it was going to take her down instead.

Jabbing the lion seal and jumping away, her mind raced to find alternate plan. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the ice shelf a little ways off. It looked like her only chance at survival.

So took one last jab at the lion seal's face before launching herself in the direction of the ice shelf, knowing that the angry beast would follow since it was a very territorial animal. It thought she was on its land.

_No, _she yelled at the animal following her, as she pushed herself to get to the ice shelf way ahead of the lion seal. _This is my home! _

Pulling out her ice pick and throwing her spear on the edge of ice shelf, she paused just long enough to stab the top of the ice ridge before she hurled herself upwards, feet just cresting the sides when the lion seal lunged at where she had been a few seconds before.

She stood grabbing her spear and looking down at the lion seal which snarled and snapped at her. It turned its head searching for a way up to continue its assault, but it never fully turned around to show its back to her.

Her mind raced thinking off a good distraction. She pulled her metal boomerang from her waist belt with one hand and leaned down to poke the lion seal so it would turn its focus back on her. She let out a yell to keep its attention as she pulled back a hand and sent the boomerang high into the air behind the seal, waiting for it to come back and hit the animal's head. But the lion seal lunged once again, moving itself out of the way of the boomerang range.

Thinking quickly she forced it back with the tip of her spear before moving back to get into place, out of sight of the animal below her. She watched as the boomerang's metal surfaced glittered in the sun as it swiftly came back down and hit the lion seal in the back of the head. It roared turning around to glare at this new attacker. With its back to her, it was her time to deliver the final blow. If this didn't work, it might be her end, not the animal's.

Taking a shuddering breath, she lifted her spear with both her hands before taking a running leap and hurling herself off the ice shelf down at the angry beast.


	3. Round Two

_I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender._

_A/N: Thanks for reading the story so far. Sorry for the grammatical errors in the first two chapters. I have tried to fix the worst of them. I may be able to write a story, but edit it...? I might have an easier time riding the Unagi with Aang. But I am working harder to bring you more story and less confusing 'what was the author trying to say' moments. So without farther ado, chapter three..._

_**Chapter 3**_

The force of her take off helped drive her spear. Hitting the lion seal, it let out a thunderous bellow before slumping forward.

After a second of stunned silence, Narra slipped off of its back and crashed into the snow beside it, her legs unable to support her weight.

She did it.

She really did it, the shocking thought flickered across her weary mind.

She needed to return to the village to tell them the outcome of the fight, so they wouldn't have to worry anymore.

The thought of the mile long trek back to the village made her groan as she pulled her tired body upwards to stand, feeling the sore ache in her ribs where the lion seal used her chest for battering ram practice.

_Argh, Great._

Narra made it only a couple of feet before her leg muscle gave out from spending too many hours tensed up and fighting for her life. As she sank to the ground, consciousness quickly fading, she thought a quick rest might be okay.

* * *

"Narra! Narra!" a voice cried out, the sound breaking into her tired mind. She felt someone shaking her shoulders. "Please be okay!"

"Wha..." Cracking a blurry eye open, she attempted to pull her mind together.

"Narra!" Marina pulled her into a platypus bear hug, tears pouring down her face. "You're okay! You are okay, right?" She pulled back and looked down at her as if to inspect her, but rushed on before Narra could give a reply. "We all heard the noises of the fight, and then there was silence. And... and we waited for you to come back... but you never did! So I had to come see of you were alright-"

"I'm fine," Narra proclaimed, lightly pushing her friend's hand way.

Marina slapped her arm gently, exclaiming, "Good, don't ever scare me again, you crazy child!"

Marina turned her head to nervously eye the massive beast laying only a few feet away. It was even bigger than she expected.

"You crazy, brave child..." She murmured, looking at the tall girl in amazement. She knew her friend was brave and would do anything for her tribe, but the sight of the lion seal, which normally took two grown men to take down, made her realize just how remarkable this girl really was. She shook her head... crazy brave girl she was indeed.

The girl in question propped herself up on an elbow and grimaced as she touched her ribs "How long was I out?"

"About an hour or so."

Narra thought it sounded about right after noticing how much the cold wet snow had seeped into her large parka, making her shiver a little.

"Lets get you back to the village. You have done your job, now let us take care of the rest." Marina said, pulling her up and putting her arm under hers in support as they made the trek back to the village.

Once they arrived, Narra saw almost half the tribe gathered around the village's entrance. Marina slipped her arm from under her and stepped aside to proclaim. "Narra, the woman warrior, has taken down a lion seal today and saved our tribe from its teeth."

She remembered the tradition of warriors proclaiming each others deeds upon arriving back home from a trip, but it was a little surreal to hear her own exploits proclaimed in front of the tribe. But then again her brain still had not caught up to the fact she was still breathing after flinging herself off of a ice shelf at a half ton angry animal.

The women around her broke out in murmurs upon hearing the news.

"A lion seal?"

"How did she do it?..."

"Mommy, isn't she brave?"

One old woman, Sokka and Katara's grandmother, broke away from the group that surrounded her and stepped closer. The small crowd of her tribe mates fell silent to listen as Kanna began to speak.

"Narra, Daughter of Bato and Nia. Today you have done this tribe a great service and proved yourself to be a warrior if the truest kind. You have shown yourself to be brave and courageous, the two things that characterize the warriors of the South and so for your deeds I bestow on you the Mark of the Brave." The old woman moved forward, dipping a hand into a bowl of war paint and made a backwards crescent shape on her forehead before handing the bowl to someone else and wiping her hands. "I also give to you this necklace as a token of your courage."

Narra held out her hand and the necklace was placed into it. She saw it had three blubber seal teeth with a large round blue bead in between each tooth, four in total.

She winced a little when she saw the dulled, triangle teeth, remembering how sharp they really were.

"Ah, so you remember the teeth child," Kanna said softly. "These came from one of the two you felled last year."

She wanted to reply 'how could I forget.' The scars where these teeth scraped her still remained on her forearm, but all she did was nod and close a hand over the necklace.

"Here let me put it on you," Marina said slipping behind her as Kanna thanked her for the last time and the crowds began to dissipate, going back to preparing their evening meals.

She saw Sokka standing by a tent in the back before he quickly slipped behind it so that the thinning crowd wouldn't see him.

_He probably thinks I stole his chance to get this honor_ , Narra thought, _but its not like I sought it, or even knew I was going to get it. I just did what I had to do."_

"Okay there."

She allowed Marina to fuss with the necklace like a proud mother peacock hen, not wanting to ruin her fun by telling her she was about to take it off to sleep.

"Now, you go change out of your wet clothes and rest a little. Don't worry about Daria. I have her so she won't bug you," Marina said in a motherly tone while making a shooing motion with her hands.

Narra trudged the last few paces to her tent, ignoring the curious stares as she passed by.

She pushed the heavy tent flap back and immediately began to slowly take off her wet outer parka, weapons belt, necklace, and boots before sinking into the warm depths of her bed roll.

As soon as she hit her fur pillow she was asleep, completely unaware of the bright glow of a flare shooting through the sky outside her tent.

* * *

A loud cracking noise brought Narra back to consciousness from a place of deep sleep.

_Argh! _she thought, rolling over and tossing a fur blanket over her head. _Won't the world let me sleep today or is it having fun pestering me when I am dead tired?"_

Suddenly the snow underneath her floor of furs began to shake and the cracking noise rang through the air again- only closer this time.

Her heart stopped.

Last year they had a problem with the ice melting and breaking away around the village. She desperately hoped that if it were ice breaking that it was a small enough chunk and far enough away to not cause safety issues for the village. Just thinking of the idea of packing up camp and moving took too much energy that she didn't have.

She groaned as she rolled back over and fumbled around for her extra outer parka before pulling it on and slipping into her boots.

The sound of cracking ice didn't stop and kept getting louder. The ground started shaking more violently.

It was worse than she thought.

She pushed herself faster to get out of the tent and see what was going on. Bending down to grab her first available weapon, her club, just in case, she raced out of the tent and almost crashed into a woman standing outside.

Dazed she glanced around at the crowd which stood silently staring into the distance. She pushed her way through to see Sokka standing on the snow wall... and a massive dark shadow coming towards them.

Within a few seconds she could make out the dark metal hull of the Fire Nation ship approaching their village.

_If only it were just melting ice... _she thought darkly, eyeing the Southern Water Tribe's newest danger, one that far out-weighed the lion seal she fought only hours ago.

Her mind raced as she took up a position in front of her tribe members. This was a warship furnished with more soldiers than members of her tribe. If they attacked... what would become of them? The men were always here during a Fire Nation raid. Having them gone and realizing only Sokka and her stood against them made the survival of the tribe during a fight a very bleak one.

_Her sister, Marina, Katara... all gone..._

Faces flickered through her mind as the hull of the boat crashed into the wall, pushing Sokka and the snow forward. She gripped her weapon readying herself for whatever may come. No matter how fruitless fighting might be she would do all she could to stand in the way of anyone trying to hurt the ones she loved. Then a shriek sounded through the utter stillness of the air as a large gang plank made from the front portion of the ship lowered itself.

As the smoke cleared, seven intimidating soldiers walked down it. The heavy metal armor that covered their bodies made them look even more impenetrable.

Her eyes widened. She was told that during a raid Fire Nation soldiers would march out like a thick cloud of soot and devour everything in their midst if not they were not driven back. So why were there just seven?

A small hope flickered in her heart. What if this wasn't a normal raid? Could they potentially gain their freedom through negotiations...

Suddenly Sokka rose from his crouching position in front of the ship and let out a war cry as he ran up toward the leading soldier, brandishing his warrior club high in the air.

The lead soldier lifted a leg and kicked the club away before swinging his leg back towards Sokka, sending the water tribe boy flying off the gangplank. He landed on his face in the snow.

All around she heard her tribe members gasp, but all Narra wanted to do was growl at Sokka and pummel him deeper into the snow for using such a brash move when there might be a way to salvation if they played their cards right and treaded lightly with the hotheaded firebenders.

Needless to say, Sokka had the habit of bringing out the worst in Narra in virtually every situation, but even more so in one where his actions could get someone killed.

Narra pushed thoughts of Sokka away. She would deal with him later... if they both were still alive.

Narra narrowed her eyes, scowled at the invader and tightened a hand over her weapon by her side.

"What do you want from my tribe?" she growled when the leader of the group was a few feet away.

_He must be a very high ranking officer. _The thought flickered through Narra's mind as her eye studied her enemy's ornate armor, which was brushed with gold at the collar, and the look of dominance in his expression. A scar which made him look like an even more formidable opponent covered an eye and extended back to where the helmet obscured the rest of it.

She desperately hoped he was in the mood for negotiation because she didn't want to feel the extent of what such a firebender could unleash.

He ignored her as he stopped a few feet to the left and surveyed the crowd of tribespeople before moving down the line. His eyes seemed to search for someone.

"Where is he?" he bellowed stopping next to her.

Suddenly he reached a hand out and grasped Kanna's fur hood, pulling her away from a shocked Katara.

"He'd be about this age?" His deadly cold voice rang out in the eerie silence of the clearing as he shook Kanna's hood, making the old woman jerk back and forth a little. "Master of all elements?"

Narra stocked up to him as he pushed Kanna away and planted herself in front of him. "Look, as the leader of the tribe, I am here to assure you that we can help you find this person in trade for the tribe's safety."

The soldier smirked at her words before leaning closer to intimidate her and lowering his voice to say, "Oh, I'm not here to negotiate."

He shot a hand out and fire leapt over the heads of the tribespeople. Dropping quickly to avoid getting burned, Nara felt the heat of the flare above her.

Her heart seemed to stop at the sight of the red, hot flames. Narra had always used anger, stubbornness, or her sense of duty to distract her from her fear of losing even more people she loved, but at that moment the memories of the last time she saw a firebender flooded through her, rooting her to the spot.

It was the last time she saw Katara's mother.

"I know you're hiding him!" the firebender barked over her head clenching his fist.

Sokka jolted her from her momentary memory lapse when he picked up his club and let out a war cry as he charged the firebender from behind. As he swung his club, the firebender leaned forward using Sokka's own momentum to flip himself over on the snow next to her.

Narra widened her eyes as they both rolled in opposite directions to avoid the fire punch aimed at them. Quickly Sokka hurled a boomerang at the soldier who ducked missing the sharp metal by a few inches.

"Show no fear!" a little boy called out behind her. Turning she saw Sokka catch a spear the little boy sent flying in his direction. The boy reached down again and tossed her one too.

Seeing Sokka going after the firebender, she was about to follow him, knowing that taking out the leader and scattering the troops might be the only option for survival left. Before she could move she caught sight of one of the soldiers on the side not watching their leader like the others, but was advancing on the line of tribespeople slowly so as not to turn their attention from what was happening in the center of the meeting yard. He probably wanted to grab someone to use as leverage to get the tribe to cooperate.

Narra narrowed her eyes as she began creeping closer to him silently as his attention remained focused solely on his attempt to capture someone. When she got close enough she used her spear to smack down on the hand holding his spear, which fell to the snow in his surprise.

Narra glared at him over her spear as she readied herself to jump away from a fire blast, but instead he immediately dropped down to pick up his fallen weapon. Narra intercepted him putting the tip of her spear on the exposed part of his throat.

_A non-bender and probably new_, she mused, her confidence rising. Her eyes locked on his face for any sign of movement as she tried to sort out the clanking and grunting sounds that were coming from behind her. Then suddenly there was a loud crash and the soldier's eyes flickered in surprise as the cheering of little children rang through the air.

_What?_

The soldier in front of her used the split second she was distracted to throw himself backwards to the ground and kick a leg up to sideswipe her spear.

She recovered her balance as he jumped to his feet, weapon in hand.

_Great. Just Great._

Before she could react a giant wave of snow crashed into him, sending him flying backwards into an igloo.

_Well, that works_, Narra thought before glancing behind her to see a bald boy dressed in the odd color of gold and orange squaring off with the firebender.

"You're the airbender?" the firebender asked incredulously. "You're the Avatar?"

A_irbender? Avatar?_

_So the airbender Sokka was talking about this morning is the Avatar? What in the wolves' breath happened in the village while she was gone?! Did the Earth King stop by for tea too?_

She backed up to where her tribe mates stood, angling herself towards the soldier she just fought in case he decided to have another go.

The two benders in the center of the clearing began fighting. Fire blasted from the firebender's hands as the airbender moved away, twirling what looked like a staff to deflect the blows.

When the airbender moved closer to the water tribe members, the flames swirled around their heads, making everyone in the line gasp and duck.

Narra was trying to put out a hot cinder that fell on her parka when the fire stopped and the airbender spoke.

"If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?"

The firebender paused then dropped his fighting stance and nodded.

The soldier she had fought earlier grabbed the airbender's left shoulder and another did so on his right after taking his staff.

All the soldiers began marching back to their ship with the boy.

_They're leaving!_ she cheered, wanting to sink to the ground in relief, hoping this was the last threat of the village's safety today because she didn't think she could take much more before she'd collapse in exhaustion again.

"Head a course to the Fire Nation. I'm going home," shouted the firebender's voice.

She froze when she heard those words, her joy quickly faded as she realized what would happen to the boy when they arrived in the Fire nation. If the Fire Nation was so ruthless in their dealings with peasant soldiers and warriors in their quest to conquer the world, how would they treat the little Avatar who was the only one who could stop them?

Her stomach felt like it had sunk into the depths of the frigid ocean around their village at the sight of the young boy being lead up the gangplank by Fire Nation soldiers into the imposing ship. When he turned back to them as the gangplank began to close, she could tell he was trying to put on a brave face, just like the one she had used many times over the past two years.

_This wasn't a victory,_ she thought sadly staring into the distance as the ship pulled away, _No, this was far from it._

* * *

_A/N: So let me know what you think. This story is in Narra's perspective so she doesn't see or hear a lot of the what happens in the original cartoon story line due to her having to kick butt on her own and what not, but did I add or take out to much for your taste? Let me know in a review. Thanks for reading! _


	4. The Rescue

_I do not own Avatar: the Last Aribender_

_A/N: Flying Hogmonkeys, that was a long chapter to write, but the story had a lot of ends to tie before the journey could begin. So please place all hands and feet inside Appa's saddle, cause here we go to Chapter 4!_

**_Chapter 4_**

"You want to go help him, don't you?" Marina said, slipping through her tent door and pulling Narra from her thoughts. She had walked back to her tent lost in thought after the ship sailed back into the mist.

"He...he is just a little kid," Narra said hesitantly turning to her friend. "And now he has the weight of the whole world on his shoulders. It just doesn't seem fair to go through that alone."

"Like you have been?"

Narra's head shot over to stare at Marina, "No, I have you, Daria, Katara..."

"And Sokka."

"Sokka? Ha!" Narra snorted, crossing her arms as her earlier anger at the Water tribe teen flared up again, "Yes, I have him to make trouble for me."

"You know what? I think that your previous judgment of Sokka clouds your perspective of him even now. Did you even see him bravely defend the village today?"

"Yeah, his war cries filled the air so it was hard to miss him." Narra said sarcastically.

"So the enemy could see him coming from a mile away, but he did have the courage to fight in the face of real danger. If you trusted him more, maybe he would grow to become a warrior of skill too."

Narra was silent. The girl who was as solid as a rock in the face of adversity and danger was also many times unyielding when it came to things she believed.

Marina shook her head lightly and mused, "I think one day you are going to see a side of Sokka that you have not allowed yourself to notice before, and then he just might get you to have fun for once."

"There is no time for fun, Marina," Narra explained, shaking her head slowly. "First thing in the morning I need to leave to restock the storehouse with baiting fish and check if the lion seal's pack have moved into the area."

Marina stared at the young girl who had given up her childhood to protect and provide for this village. She tried to care for the girl ever since her mother died, but she could not stop all the harsh realities that this war and a life in the South Pole held. She knew that Narra was well acquainted with death, abandonment, and fighting for her survival, but what about living life- real life to the fullest, where there is joy, laughter, and fun no matter the storm brewing all around.

Marina desperately wanted to see a smile reach Narra's eyes for the first time since the girl's mother died.

Narra watched as Marina studied her sadly for a long moment and then looked as if she had made her mind up about something. She narrowed her eyes at the mother of two after Marina began moving swiftly around her tent, pulling out her bag and stuffing clothes and other items into it.

"What do you think you are doing?" Narra called out slowly.

Marina glanced up at her from where she was kneeling rolling up Narra's sleeping roll.

"Isn't it obvious? You have a boat to catch! So stop your yapping and get you weapons together. I am not sure which ones you want to take on your journey-"

"Um, what makes you think I am actually going to go?" Narra leaned down to take the sleeping roll from her friend. "I need to be here for Daria and the village. I just can't up and leave!"

"Yes, you can. You need this. You need to live your life to the fullest!"

"I can do that here-"

"You are sixteen, for Water's sake!" Marina bent back down to gingerly pick up her weapons between her index and thumb, looking lost as to what they were. "You're supposed to be wondering what boy will ask for your hand in marriage, not wondering if you will actually ever see another boy from our tribe again."

"Marina. Is this what you are worried about?" Narra asked blandly, rolling her eyes. "Boys don't even like me. I am too-"

"Stubborn, intimidating and have the characteristics of a rock. Maybe so. But, you need fun, things to laugh at, and stuff to be happy about, and you will not find it here."

"Oh because being the bodyguard for a long lost Avatar who is now going to be chased down by an entire hostile nation is going to be a whole lot more fun."

"Yes," Marina huffed, giving up on sorting through the pile of confusing weapons. "I happen to think it will be. A grand adventure complete with danger, a chance for romance, and a giant flying animal will hopefully loosen you up a little. Besides I would care for Daria as one of my own like I have always done and now that it is summer we will be able to catch our food more easily. It all works out."

Narra was quiet for a moment before shaking her head and replying, "No, this tribe needs me more than I need to go on an adventure."

"Argh, you stubborn girl!" Marina cried, throwing her hands into the air. "If you are not going to do this for yourself, do it for me! Go...go stop this war and bring my husband back home to me!" Putting her hands back by her side and clenching them, she clamped her eyes shut for a moment before opening them to stare at Narra, tears pooling under them threatening to spill over. She continued softly, "I miss him and so do my children. Gosh, Nilna doesn't even remember what he looks like because he left when she was so small. If he...if he is still alive, I want you to bring him home after this war ends. You and I both know the Avatar might be the only one who could end this." Marina paused before quietly asking, "Will you go protect the world's only hope? Will you do it for me? "

Narra stared at her friend, feeling the sadness in her every word. She closed the distance between them and lifted Marina's hand. "I promise to do whatever I can to protect the Avatar and to bring your husband back home."

A smile as bright as the sun broke out on Marina's face despite the tears trailing from her eyes.

"Okay, finish packing quickly or you'll be paddling until your arms feel like they are going to fall off to catch up with that ship."

A few minutes later Narra rushed out of her tent and barely avoided crashing into Sokka and Katara's grandmother.

"Ah, Narra. There you are. I was just coming to see you."

Knowing she needed the old woman's approval before going, Narra shifted the sleeping roll in her hands nervously for a moment before blurting out. "I want to go after the Avatar."

"Yes, you are already packed and ready, I see," Kanna's old voice crackled in humor. "You young ones move much faster than me."

Narra's eyes brows wrinkled in confusion.

"Sokka has already cleared his and Katara's things from the tent," Kanna explained. "And I was on my way to ask you if you would join them on their journey to watch over them and the Avatar, but it seems Marina's already convinced you." Kanna smiled at the young woman who slipped out of the tent to join them.

"It would be my honor to accept your invitation to watch over with your grandchildren and the Avatar."

"Oh good, your warrior skills will be much needed during the journey ahead," Kanna said placing a hand on Narra's shoulder. "Go say goodbye to your sister quickly and meet us out near the canoe."

* * *

Narra walked towards the canoe, trying to pick up her broken heart along the way. Her little sister, self-proclaimed 'big tough girl,' could not help herself from crying all over Narra's shoulder as she tightly hugged her goodbye. She remembered the feeling of the sudden departure of her father and how it tore at her heart. Knowing she was doing the same to her little sister...

_S_he aggressively shook her head to dispel the sad thoughts. She had made a promise to Daria as well as Kanna and Marina that she would watch this war finally end and bring back all their loved ones, and she would stick to it no matter how much her heart hurt.

When she approached the small group standing by the quiet water, she saw Kanna hug her grandchildren as she spoke to them. She gestured for Narra to stand by the other Water tribe teens before continuing.

"Aang is the Avatar. He's the world's only chance. You both found him for a reason," she said to Katara and Sokka before looking at all three of the Water tribe teens standing before her. "Now your destinies are entwined with his."

The three looked at each other for a moment, wondering what they were about to get themselves into.

Then Katara glanced behind and gestured to the tiny boat, saying, "There's no way we are going to catch a warship with a canoe."

Suddenly there was a large groan in the distance. As Narra looked up she was instantly on guard until she saw the hairy creature Sokka called a flying bison cresting a snowy hill.

"Well, Katara," Narra said, rolling her eyes at the animal's impeccable timing. "It's a good thing we have a giant flying furball to do the job."

"Appa," Katara gasped and started running towards the flying bison.

"You just love taking me out of my comfort zone, don't cha?" said Sokka blandly.

"Yes, we do, Sokka," Narra chuckled and patted his shoulder as she passed. "You make it too much fun not too."

"I don't see why you have to come," Sokka snapped grabbing the sleep roll from the canoe before marching after his sister. "Don't you need to go off and protect the village some more."

"No, your grandmother asked me to come along in order to protect the two of you and the Avatar- you know, the world's only chance at survival."

"I can protect us!"

"Yeah, sure you can." Narra muttered passing him. She knew she was being a bit harsh even if it was Sokka, but her emotional stress lately seemed to bring her carefully controlled frustration over Sokka's whining boiling dangerously to the surface. Even though she normally didn't speak her mind too many people, if Sokka continued to push her, she just might give him an ear full of her thoughts and none of them were very kind.

So needless to say, in all of her anger, Narra hadn't stopped stop to think that maybe the stress of leaving home or of not being considered a good enough warrior might be propelling his harsh comments also.

"So what, are you going to try and negotiate with every firebender we see?"

"Oh no, Sokka. Your war cries are definitely a much better plan."

"I was trying to fight them! And I did bow down to the enemy unlike some people-"

"It was an entire warship we were facing! At least I was trying to think of a way that was not likely to get everyone killed."

"Yeah, right, I bet behind that stony mask of yours, you were too afraid to fight."

_That's enough,_ Narra thought, her waning patience seemed to snap so she stopped walking and whirled around to the Water tribe boy. "I am surprised you even got a shot in with your clumsiness-"

"You guys!" Katara yelled from her seat in Appa's saddle above them. But Narra and Sokka wouldn't turn to acknowledge her and continued to glare at each other.

"I know everyone has a lot of pent up energy from earlier, but the more we delay our journey the farther away the ship will get. We need to go after him... We may be his only hope."

Narra sighed as Katara's gentle voice reminded her of her promise to protect all of them- even Sokka.

They both climbed up onto Appa and set off to search for the ship.

* * *

The silence was deafening in the saddle after they figured out the words to get Appa to fly. At first, the motion being in the air was a little sickening, but she tried not to think of how high they were and forced herself to focus on their search.

As they sat in the saddle looking at the sea below, she could feel the tension between Sokka and her in the air, making their first flight even more uncomfortable.

Narra and Sokka had always been at odds, but rarely voiced their thoughts and feelings. She normally tried to refrain from voicing her rather sarcastic opinions because her duty had been to dispel everyone's fear in the face of ever present danger- not to provide her commentary to go along with it.

But, when she actually verbalized all her frustration about Sokka, it felt like she actually had someone listen to her who she didn't need to pretend that everything was okay for. Before, Marina was the only one she didn't have to pretend with. And, she knew that she was going to feel pretty isolated on this journey if she had to continue to contain her thoughts and feelings like she normally did. Well, Marina did want her to loosen up and Narra guessed that also meant letting down her guard with those she was going to travel with.

Getting slightly dizzy from looking down, Narra distracted herself from the queasy feeling by glancing over her shoulder at the two Water Tribe siblings who were busy scanning the sea. She wondered if they could become friends during this trip. Well, at least with Katara. She hadn't really talked much with the fourteen year old since they both had two different jobs within the Tribe and did not interact much with each other.

"There's the ship!" Katara yelled, pulling Narra from her thoughts. Still unsure if she could balance on her feet, Narra rushed on her hands and knees up to the front of the saddle. She peered over the side to see the metal ship like a dark spot floating in the blue and white landscape below.

"Come on Appa," Katara urged the giant flying bison, her brows furling in concentration as she pulled on Appa's reins to drawl nearer to the vessel.

Squinting as they moved closer, Narra could see the airbender deflecting fire blast after fire blast by spinning his staff in front of him like she had seen him do earlier that day. She could tell the attack was too much when the staff flew from his hands and skidded across the deck. Narra clenched the saddle's wooden side guard, everything in her wanted to be down on that deck defending the young boy from the harsh attack.

But all she could do was watch as the young scarred soldier's attack sent Aang teetering on the edge of the ship's railing before a final blast knocked him over the side.

"Aang," Katara yelled, her body jolted at the sight of the boy sinking beneath the surface of the frigid water. Narra clenched her teeth and willed the boy to resurface as Katara yelled his name over and over again.

After a minute or two passed, Narra turned away disheartened knowing that she failed to protect the world's only chance before she even could do anything to help. She should have argued less about coming and then they might have gotten here in time to save him. What a warrior she was turning out to be she thought as she moved her fist to slam down on the saddle's guard rail in sadness and frustration.

Her clenched hand paused midway and a bright blue light flicked to life under the surface of the water where Aang went down. The water began to swirl and create waves. Then suddenly the ocean erupted and funneled in a cyclone.

The water tribe teens all gasped as they saw the young Avatar riding at the top of the cyclone of water, his eyes and arrows glowing a bluish white light.

_He was alive!_

The flickering hope swelled once again in Narra's chest as she stared in wondered at the glowing tattoos. Never in her life had she seen such a thing.

They watched the young Avatar land on the deck of the ship and effortlessly bend his cyclone into a water whip which sent the fire nation soldiers flying across the deck, some landing in the water over the side.

"Did you see what he just did?" Katara asked in amazement from the side of the saddle looking down at the scene below.

"Now_ that_ is some waterbending!" Sokka proclaimed.

"Guys, we still need to get down there," Narra reminded them, moving towards Appa's reins. The Water Tribe siblings turned to each other and nodded, readying themselves to help in any way once they reached the deck.

Then the glow of the airbender's eyes and arrows faded and he began to sway unsteadily before collapsing onto the metal deck.

"Aang," Katara called out once Appa had landed and they slid down his slick fur. She rushed to Aang's side and pulled him into her lap. "Are you okay?"

"Hey Katara, hey Sokka," the airbender said weakly. "Thanks for coming."

"Well, I couldn't let you have all the glory," Sokka joked.

"I dropped my staff," Aang nodded towards the side of the ship.

"Got it," Sokka exclaimed jumping up to retrieve it from where it was lying near the ship's railing.

While they were talking, Narra stood off to the side of them, not sure she should join the conversation since she had never actually been introduced to the boy, and now didn't seem like a good time. She surveyed the deck for signs of movement from the soldiers who were knocked down by Aang's waterbending and didn't see any movement. They were safe, for the moment at least.

"Can you help me?" Katara asked, motioning to Narra to grab Aang's other arm to support him. Once they got the weak airbender onto Appa, Narra turned her head to see the soaked soldiers beginning to rise to their feet. She glanced at Katara and felt a sense of camaraderie as Katara nodded understandingly. They both quickly moved to face their opponents.

After studying the soldiers approach for a moment, Narra rushed forward in front of the other water tribe girl, grabbing her club from her belt and swinging at the closest soldier. It caught him off guard and caused him to stumble before slipping on the wet deck and landing with a loud cry. Narra ducked under a swipe of the spear from the next approaching soldier.

She heard a cry ring out that sounded like it came from Sokka. Quickly glancing behind her, she saw Sokka's legs frozen to the deck and Katara's hands moving in a waterbending movement. Narra's eyes widened as she realized she was standing in the same water puddled underneath the soldiers. Narra's aching leg muscles protested as she launched herself out of the way. Landing on her hands, she tucked her head in and rolled hitting the deck hard.

_That move feels a lot less painful on snow, _she thought, grunting as she quickly got to her feet. The soldiers were frozen and one hand was inches away from Katara's back_._ Picking up her club, she ignored all her aches as she pushed her exhausted body to get to Appa as fast as she could.

"Hurry up!" Katara yelled as she climbed onto Appa.

"I am just a guy with a boomerang. I didn't ask for all this flying and magic," Sokka's voice filtered into her ears from where he stood a few feet away still chipping away his frozen feet.

"You're about to be a dead guy with a boomerang if you don't hurry up," Narra grunted out through clenched teeth as she jumped over the line of ice on the deck that separated her from the flying bison. Tossing her club up, she gripped the saddle's railing and hurled herself upwards, kicking a leg over the side and rolling into the saddle with a groan. She rose onto an elbow to see Sokka run up Appa's tail and land in saddle next to her. Appa leapt into the air and started climbing into the sky away from the ship.

A shout rang out from the ship and Narra peered over the storage area in the back of the saddle to see two fire benders create a large fire ball aimed right at them.

"Uh guys, fire ball heading this way!" she yelled over her shoulder. The airbender ran from Appa's head and jumped, taking a deep breath and swinging his staff. With a large gust of invisible air, the fire ball changed course and crashed into a glacier beside them, sending snow tumbling down in front of the ship, partially covering the front half.

They flew higher in the sky away from the stalled ship and their new enemies.

_Everyone's still safe,_ Narra thought letting out a shaking breath as she sunk to the saddle in exhaustion.

A weight lifted from her burdened aching shoulders. It felt good to have it leave momentarily, knowing it would be back soon.

She laid her head back on the saddle. It wasn't very comfortable, but at the moment Narra probably could fall asleep standing up in a snow storm and she wouldn't really mind.

"Oh, you both haven't actually officially met yet," Katara's small voice piped up after they had all caught their breath and she had finished exclaiming wonder over Aang's waterbending during the fight. "Aang, this is Narra, one of our village's warriors. Narra, this is Aang, an airbender…and the Avatar." Katara's voiced ended in quick wonder.

"Um,…yeah, nice to finally meet you, Narra. Thanks for your help back there!" Aang said brightly after stumbling a little in the beginning. Sokka muttered a little from beside her on the saddle at Aang's compliment until Aang added, "Oh, you too, Sokka!"

"Mnhhh," Narra mumbled as she flopped an arm up and waved a little in greeting not opening her eyes.

There was a moment of quiet and Narra almost fell as sleep until Katara's quiet voice brought her back a little

"Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?"

Silence followed her question before the Avatar answered, his voice losing its earlier enthusiasm, "Because I never wanted to be."

_I think I understand a little, _Narra thought sadly as her heart sunk for the young boy who was so burdened with the enormous weight of the world on his shoulders. She had long lived under the weight of her fear of losing the people she was close too and her need to protect them from their end. She had thought she was getting used to shouldering it, but, today with fighting one battle after another and with all the wild mixture of emotions, she felt like she was poised on the edge and about to be drowned by the fears she hid deep inside.

_Marina is right,_ she thought, _I want…need to loosen up more. I'm not sure how, but I hope it's soon._

Narra slipped into sleep as the others quietly peered at a map, their voices soft as a light breeze brushed at their clothing and the shadow of clouds rolled over them.

* * *

_A/N: I would love to hear what you all think, so please review. Thanks for reading!_


	5. Welcome to the Southern Air Temple

_I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender_

**_Chapter 5_**

_Can't I just sleep peacefully for once_? Narra thought groggily as she heard voices on the edge of her awareness. _Whatever it is it can wait for a moment more…_

Feeling too exhausted to move, she drifted back to sleep until a few moments later loud shouting broke through her tired mind, jolting her awake.

"Huh?" Narra mumbled disoriented, lifting her stiff arm to rub her blurry eyes. She figured it was already morning time since the pink light of dawn bathed the others in its glow as they were settling into the saddle around her.

"How was I supposed to know there was no such thing as a prickle snake?" Sokka muttered to himself as he stored his sleeping roll in the storage area on the back of the saddle. Securing the pack he flopped down and leaned back against it with a huff, never once looking her way.

Narra raised an eyebrow at his dramatic entry but thought better about saying anything, not wanting it to escalate into a fight again like yesterday.

Her eyes drifted behind Sokka's head as she thought, and her eyes widened in shock at what she saw on the horizon.

_Trees! So that's what they look like in person. _

She quickly turned around in her seat and found they were on a sandy beach next to a lake lined with mountains and forests. Every sight was so new and so different when compared with the winter wastelands she had always known. In one glance it felt like she had seen more colors than she had ever seen in her life.

"Hey guys, you ready to go to the Southern Air Temple?!" Aang said excitedly over his shoulder. He turned around to see Narra and Sokka sitting there looking at everything but each other with some sort of odd tension between the two.

"Um, Katara," Aang whispered, gesturing behind them as he leaned over to the Water Tribe girl beside him on Appa's head. "What's with them?"

"Well, their personalities don't exactly mesh," Katara explained slowly in a low voice. "Even though I have heard Narra is pretty sarcastic like Sokka, he is more dramatic and Narra is more of a …no-nonsense, straight laced kind of person, I guess. I think that since they don't really understand each other's personalities, they have always tried to ignore each other rather than fight like they did yesterday."

"They fought?" Aang replied, after urging Appa into the air and setting them on a course to his home temple.

"Yeah, while you were on that ship", said Katara." But thank goodness it seems like they have mellowed out." They snuck a glance to the back of the saddle.

Hearing their whispering tones and seeing their stolen glance behind them, it wasn't hard for Narra to deduce that Katara was catching Aang up on what happened yesterday between her and Sokka.

She also wished someone would catch her up on what was going on these past few days.

She felt like she was floundering around with little knowledge or understanding of what happened the day before or what they were going to do today. Waking up in a whole new and unknown place than yesterday wasn't helping her piece everything together in her mind either.

_Southern Air Temple? Why are we going there? _Narra groaned mentally, feeling completely lost. _Yesterday I didn't have much time to think between meeting an supposedly extinct animal, hunting a seal, fighting the Fire Nation, and being thrown- which I am certain Marina would have done literally if I resisted anymore- into saving and protecting the world's only hope…_

_What a Tuesday that was…_

But unfortunately, since Katara and the airbender were sitting in the front of the saddle whispering back and forth, she was left with trying to obtain information from Sokka.

She glanced over at the Water Tribe boy who was lounging back against the saddle, looking at the clouds overhead as they rose in the sky.

Not knowing any eloquent words to bridge the gap they dug yesterday, she finally decided to be blunt and barrel through it.

"Sokka, what happened yesterday?"

"Well, first of all," Sokka started in a bored tone after a moment of surprise. He held up a hand as if to count down the things that happened with his fingers. "After you went to sleep, it took us a couple hours heading north to finally get out of the South Pole. Then we made camp back on that island that you saw.

But get this," he continued, shifting to lean in closer. His eyes sparkled with mirth and a little mischief. "When we tried to get you up to help set up camp, you elbowed Katara in the forehead." Sokka leaned back and slapped his knee, laughing. "Her face was priceless! Who knew you were a violent person when you are tired."

_Do you really want to find out if that's a true statement?_ Narra thought deadpan, raising an eyebrow and giving him a pointed look. But Sokka didn't seem to see her expression and continued on.

"So Aang decided to just do one of his magic air bending tricks and lower the saddle on the ground and simply let you sleep." He said waving his hands in the air mimicking the airbender before he suddenly dropped his hands and braced his folded arms on his bent knees. He paused for a moment looking off in the distance before adding begrudgingly in a low voice. "You…you did do a lot of fighting yesterday and were pretty tired."

Narra remembered Marina praising him for fighting in the face of real danger. She had been reluctant to agree because she didn't approve of how he went about facing the enemy. But from his actions yesterday he proved he had the ingredients of a great warrior, even though he still needed to show a lot more skill for her to be truly impressed.

"You did pretty well too."

"Yeah, I guess I did, didn't I?" Sokka said slowly with a smirk as he lifted his arms and locked them behind his head while kicking up a leg and bracing it on top of his other folded knee.

"Sokka," Narrowing her eyes at his little display of arrogance, her words slipped out before she could catch them. "Do you want me to have a reason to knock you off the side of this saddle?"

"Okay, Okay," Sokka said with a grin, not moving a muscle. "You love to hate me. I get it now."

She looked to the sky and let out a groan.

They lapsed into silence. Even with the patience she had learned from all her fishing trips, time spent in the air with nothing to do but stare at the clouds still passed very slowly.

She was about to crawl to the front to join in Aang and Katara's conversation when Narra heard a small rambling sound and glanced out of the corner of her eye at Sokka who was gripping his stomach.

"Eh, Stomach, be quiet. I am trying to find us some food," he said before turning to rummage through their belongings.

Excitedly he picked up a bag and stuck a gloved hand in for a moment and then turned the bag upside to spill the contents onto his hand. Narra snorted and let out a small laugh when the contents happened to be small crumbs.

"Hey! Who ate all my blubbered seal jerky?!" Sokka yelled, clenching the crumbs in his fist.

"Oh, that was food?" Aang asked from his seat on Appa's head holding the reins. "I used it to start the campfire last night. Sorry."

"You what?!" Sokka cried his eyes widening. He seemed deflated and continued in a sad, wistful voice, "No wonder the flames smelled so good."

"The Patola Mountain range. We're almost there!" Aang shouted, seeming to ignore the crushed Sokka who plopped back down.

Narra turned away from sulking Sokka towards the mountains and couldn't help but gasp as large, rocky masses came into their view. Was she ever going to get used to the new sights, smells, and sounds?

Speaking of sounds, Narra heard Sokka's stomach growl again and realized she hadn't eaten since last morning. She dug through her pack and found her small supply of food.

As she opened the bag, the strong smell of seal jerky hit her nose and her mouth watered. Her father used to joke around saying she definitely had a warrior's appetite. She was about to take a giant bite when out of the corner of her eye she noticed Sokka's mouth hanging wide open and his eyes bulging.

"Here," she said, tossing him a stick of jerky as a sort of apology for blowing up yesterday, "You should close your mouth before a bug flies in."

"Mmm, thanks," he replied between bites.

She had just taken a bite of her stick of jerky when suddenly Aang urged Appa to soar upwards alongside the rising mountain slope. She reached out to grab ahold of the wooden railing to keep her from sliding out of the saddle.

She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as Appa climbed higher and higher, the wind pulling at her clothes and braid. Then as suddenly as they began their ascent, they crested a tree-topped ridge and leveled out.

"There it is. The Southern Air Temple."

"Aang! It's amazing," Katara gasped at the tall stone temple built on top of a mountain peak.

"We're home, buddy, we're home," Aang said quietly to his flying bison.

"Aang?" Narra asked after a moment of silence. He turned to her raising his eyebrows in question. She released the saddle's railing and shakily sunk down. "Next time please tell me when you're about to do aerial stunts."

"Oh, yeah," Aang chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "I forgot about the first time flyer thing. Sorry!"

He turned around, and Appa started his descent down towards the temple below.

* * *

"Aang, seven! Sokka, zero!" Aang called joyfully from his post on the airball field. "It's your turn, Narra!"

Aang's cheerful voice rang in her ear and she cringed a little inwardly.

When they reached the temple and started walking around the desolate, deserted place, they could tell Aang's excitement quickly evaporated as he began to tell them what the temple looked like with people and creatures living there one hundred years ago. Sokka had come up with the idea to cheer the boy up by playing a round of a game Aang had mentioned, and she agreed to take a turn too.

After watching Sokka get hit in the stomach with a wooden ball and thrown from the ten foot high poles onto the cold, snowy ground, she wondered if she was smart for volunteering to do this.

She climbed up a large fifteen foot high pole in front of a wooden goal and saw Aang playing with a wooden ball across the field of vertical standing poles.

_Just duck, just duck,_ she repeated to herself mentally, as she swung her hands out to balance and bent her knees readying herself.

Sokka might not let her live it down if she ducked instead of standing her ground and taking a hit like him, but she tried to go with the smartest option. Adding a dozen new bruises to the collection on her body when it wasn't a life or death situation was not the smartest option.

The excited smile, calm demeanor, and glint in Aang's eyes made her stomach clench in anticipation. She had a feeling this was not going to be good, and unfortunately for her at the moment, her gut feel was normally pretty accurate.

Suddenly Aang tossed the wooden ball and leapt into the air, hitting the ball with a spin kick. The ball flew her direction, bouncing off the wooden poles at neck breaking speed. Instead of ducking like she wanted too, her brain froze and instinct kicked in as she drove to her right- forgetting she was over fifteen feet from the ground.

It was like she was suspended in the air in slow motion before a cry burst from her lips and she plummeted downwards. Seeing a dark brown color just to her left, she reached out and wrapped her arms around a pole, the rest of her body swinging around and crashing into the hard wood.

_So much for not adding to my bruise count, _Narra thought with a groan, locking her forearms together and wrapping her legs around the large pole as she slipped a little.

Peals of laughter sounded above her.

"Hey, Narra! You kind of look like a koala monkey hanging-"

"Okay, Aang," Narra growled with her cheek pressed against the rough weathered wood. "You win. I look like a koala monkey. Now please help me get me down from here before I get hundreds of year old splinters everywhere."

"Oh yeah, sorry!" Aang chuckled. She felt a breeze as he jumped down from the top of the pole she was clinging to.

"Jump! I'll air bend a cushion for you!" Aang called up to her.

_Jump! Is he crazy?_ Even though her arm was in the way of her looking down, she could tell it was a long ways to fall. Her mind raced as she tried to decide if she could trust his airbending, which was an ability much of the world had long forgotten what it could do.

The image of a flying fire ball being redirected by air alone crossed her mind and she decided it proved he could be trusted in his ability.

After the slight moment of hesitation, she swallowed and pushed off of the pole. The air rushed by her as she dropped. The air changed to a heavy density like it does when there's thick fog and her drop halted.

Glancing down to see the ground two feet away, she grinned and mused, "Nice catch."

"Thanks! Let's head over to Sokka and Katara."

She placed her feet on the ground and the air density went back to normal.

_Weird, but okay. _

"Aang," Katara called out as they approached. Sokka was sitting on the ground beside her. "There is something you need to see."

_What happened? _

"Okay," the airbender replied, running over while tossing the wooden air ball and making it float around. Narra trailed him and saw Katara bend the snow from the top of the ridge behind them downwards, half submerging Sokka.

"What is it?" Aang said holding the air ball to his side and stopping in front of Katara.

"Ah…just a new waterbending move I learned!" Katara mumbled with her hands behind her back. Narra narrowed her eyes at the girl's appearance and tone. They were clear signs of a lie.

"Nice one, but enough practicing. We have a whole temple to see." Aang raced away and Narra stopped beside her tribe members.

"You weren't going to show him a waterbending move, am I right?" Narra said crossing her arms and studying the girl.

"It's… nothing," Katara mumbled turning to walk after Aang.

"Nothing! You call finding a Fire nation soldier's helmet in the snow 'nothing'?" Sokka cried jumping from the ground and stomping after her.

"Shh, don't shout it! He'll hear."

"You know you can't protect him forever."

Narra's arms fell numbly to her side. It is true then that the Fire Nation raided the airbenders and if that was true, then so were the stories of their eradication from existence. All except Aang.

She let out a troubled breath and followed the siblings up the stone steps of the large courtyard.

"Katara, firebenders were here. You can't pretend they weren't," Sokka stated stepping in front of his sister at the top of the stairs.

"I can for Aang's sake. If he finds out that the Fire Nation invaded his home, he'll be devastated."

"But what if he does find out that we saw this and never told him? How betrayed would he feel on top of having his heart crushed?" Narra asked Katara.

"I think…I think he'll understand why we didn't."

"I am not sure if withholding the truth is the best judgment on this," Narra sighed and looked Katara in the eyes. Narra would fight for the boy, but since Katara was attached to the boy emotionally and this decision didn't affect his physical safety, Narra would let Katara make the final decision. "But it's your call."

Katara inhaled and gave her a curt nod.

"Hey guys, I want you to meet somebody," Aang called out excitedly, gesturing to a statue of an old monk sitting down.

"Who's that?" Sokka asked.

"Monk Gyatso, the greatest airbender in the world. He taught me everything that I know." Aang stated and bowed to the statue like he would as if the old monk where really standing before him.

"You must miss him," Katara said moving to place a hand on his shoulder as he rose from his bow.

"Yeah…" Aang said, his voice trailing with sadness before moving away from the statue of his old master.

"Where are you going?"

"The Air Temple Sanctuary," Aang replied as he walked up the steps leading to a large arched hallway. "There is someone I am ready to meet."

Katara looked back to see Narra's expressionless face studying the Avatar and Sokka's shrugging shoulders.

They climbed the steps after the Avatar and walked down the corridor until they arrived at a large wooden door which had a tree growing beside it, its branches forming around the doors upper arch. The door itself had an intricate design of twisting pipes on its front.

"But Aang," Katara exclaimed in the silence as they approached the giant door. "No one could have survived in there for a hundred years,"

"It's not impossible," Aang replied. "I survived in the iceberg for that long."

"Good point," Katara mused, lifting a hand to her chin.

"Katara! Whoever is in there might help me figure out this Avatar thing."

"And whoever is in there might have a delicious medley of cured meats." Sokka piped up rubbing his hands together and grinning.

"Sokka, didn't I just give you some food earlier?" Narra asked dryly.

"Yeah, but that was an hour ago. I wouldn't be a good friend to my stomach if I only fed it a stick of jerky, it's that right?" He patted his middle and licked his lips as if he were dreamy of a feast. He crashed into the door and tried to open it for a couple of moments before slipping to the ground and asking, "I don't suppose you have a key?"

"The key, Sokka, is airbending," Aang replied before inhaling, throwing a leg forward, and putting his hands out in front of him in an airbending move.

Narra felt the air around her rustle and her hand went to the club at her side. Her heart started to pound as she recognized the situation they were about to put themselves in. Anything could be behind the large set of mysterious doors and she was apprehensive especially after seeing the enemies they were up against yesterday.

After a moment the circle designs in the middle of the pipes on the door twisted around and whistled. Then a latch swung upwards and the large door opened revealing a large dark room.

"Hello?" Aang called hopefully peering into the darkest. "Anyone home?

They began to walk into the dark hall, their bodies casting large shadows along the floor from the light pouring in from the door. Coming closer to the center they saw stone statues of life size people set in a large swirling pattern on the floor and along the sides of the round walls which seemed to go upwards forever.

As the rest of the group tried to figure out what the statues were here for, Narra broke away from the group and silently rounded the perimeter making sure nothing and no one was lurking in the shadows of the statues.

She was making her way around to where they first came in when a shadow appeared in the door. Quickly she hid behind the nearest statue. Glancing around it, she saw the shadow moving closer and the others hiding behind statues directly in the light of the door. If they moved, the intruder would definitely see, but Narra on the other hand was off to the side in the dark.

Narra breathed deeply and started creeping silently from behind her hiding place and moved in between the statues until she had a direct line of sight of the intruder…

"Lemur!" Aang cried out in joy.

"Dinner," Sokka's voice added.

"Don't listen to him. You're going to be my new pet."

"Not if I get him first."

The two boys rushed after the lemur out the door, pushing each other out of the way. Their cries as well as the squeals of the lemur faded down the hall.

"Well, that was interesting," Narra muttered, straightening from her crouch and looking over to Katara, who put a hand to her mouth to keep from laughing.

"So did you guys figure out what these statues are?" Narra asked walking over to join Katara.

"Yeah, they are all the past Avatars, Aang's past lives."

"Hmm, really?" she replied in surprise, looking at the statue in front of her, which she could tell was a South Water Tribe warrior by the armor. Her eyes widened and she stepped forward to get a closer look. Sure enough, the warrior statue was a woman. A past Avatar was a Water Tribe warrior woman too!

Narra allowed a grin to spread across her face and comfort to seep into her bones. No matter how long ago this woman was alive, it still felt amazing to know she wasn't the only girl warrior their tribe had ever seen. If it was done once before, she was sure that she could once again prove her worth as a warrior to all of the men, not just a few.

"You know, Sokka has always wanted to be a great warrior," Katara started, her quiet voice startled her out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"I don't really like to see you two fight so I thought I should tell you why Sokka gets upset anytime you comment on his warrior skills. This might be the only time we have alone for a while." Katara rushed to explain, as she looked nervously over her shoulder to see if the boy came back before turning back and continuing, "Sokka thinks our dad might have left him behind when the rest of the men left because he wasn't a good enough warrior. So he has been doing everything he can to prove he is a worthy warrior. That's why when he hears a comment about his skills or gets compared with you, it hits a sore spot and he overacts."

Narra's eyes roamed over the statues absentmindedly as she was quietly digesting Katara's words and thought of how to reply.

"I understand, Katara. I will try to reframe from making negative comments about his skills, but this doesn't change the fact he hasn't earned my respect or trust in him as a warrior," Narra stared into the other girl's eyes, trying to not offend her but still make her understand. "In our tribe a warrior must gain the respect and trust from other warriors by proving his skills. It is our way of judging how much you can trust another warrior with your life and the life of others.

I too had to fight most of my life to get the other men to see me as a warrior, not just a girl, and I still haven't managed to gain the respect of half of them. As warriors that's what we do, we have to fight for our place and respect. So even though I will not talk about Sokka's skills in the future, please understand I cannot _fully_ trust him with our safety until he proves himself."

"Okay," Katara replied, then paused for a moment before saying, "I am kind of glad you decided to come. It will be nice to have another girl around."

Narra snorted. "Do I need to remind you that I am not a normal girl?" Narra said, gesturing to the boy's shorter style parka, thick pants, and knee high boots she was wearing. Boy's clothing allowed her easy movement during hunting and helped some of the other warriors see her as fighter not just some little girl.

"Yes, but you will still be a relief from the egotistically, sexist, testosterone filled boys."

Narra raised an eyebrow at Katara's rant. She pegged the girl to be more motherly and gentle from the way she spoke around the village. Maybe this girl had some fight in her Narra mused.

"Oh just be happy you didn't have to live in the same tent with him," Katara muttered and rolled her eyes after she saw the look Narra gave her. "But I bet you could smell his dirty socks from-"

A sudden blue light burst forth from the eyes of the statue they were standing in front of and cut off their conversation. Eyes of each statue in the large hall lit up with an eerie glow…which looked much like when Aang's eyes and tattoos glowed…

Narra and Katara whipped their heads to stare at each other as Katara yelled, "Aang!"


End file.
